ENTERPRISE BARGAINING IN AUSTRALIA: CANADIAN REFLECTIONS

Abstract

This article argues that the issues raised by the development of enterprise bargaining in Australian industrial relations can be assessed by employing a comparative analysis with the Canadian model of collective bargaining. Although both countries maintain different institutional arrangements to govern the employment relationship, the paper notes that Canada and Australia shared over-arching commitments to social and economic equity. A review of how the industrial relations participants have reacted to the present climate of economic change shows that Australian unions and the established system of central regulation appears to offer better protection to workers than the processes of collective bargaining.